Present Obtained
by syldenne
Summary: Chiaki gifts Izuru a pair of her underwear.


A/N: I'm surprised no one has written this idea yet for these two, but then again, not everyone is a fan of this pairing. Thanks to The Apocryphal One for being my beta reader and helping me fix the errors that I had!

* * *

Normally, when someone gives you a present, you expect something like a bouquet of flowers; a stuffed animal; maybe the latest gaming console that you had your eye on; homemade sweets or even money. Of course, Izuru didn't have much interest in material things, which made it difficult in choosing a gift for him. Chiaki would sometimes give him video games or items that she thought would spark his interest. All of them being normal items. However, when she presented him with a pair of her undergarments, Izuru wasn't sure how to respond.

At first, he thought that maybe someone dared her or that it was supposed to be a joke. But when he searched deep within her gentle pink eyes, he could only find pure intentions, which Izuru expected. She wouldn't give him anything without meaning behind it. He knew that very well.

He could see that she was waiting for him to say something, but what was he supposed to say? Thankfully, there was no one around to witness the exchange, otherwise they would've gotten the wrong impression.

"I guess they are kind of childish, huh?" Chiaki spoke, sounding a bit defeated, like she didn't meet some sort of expectation.

She was referring to the underwear, which she had placed in his hands a few minutes ago. They were a pale apricot color decorated with small squares that gave it an 8-bit pixel theme. Simple, but charming, just like the gamer herself. He couldn't imagine her wearing anything else and tried to prevent the image of her wearing a lacier undergarment from entering his mind.

"In my opinion, they suit you." Izuru responded, assuring her that he didn't mind the design.

Although she tried to hide it, he could tell that his response made her happy from the way she lowered her gaze to her feet, a small smile forming on her lips as her cheeks flushed, slightly.

Charming.

"Although I'm at a lost as to why you would present me such an item."

"Normally, when you max out someone's affection meter, you're given an item at the end." Chiaki responded, using gaming terms.

"I see. I suppose this means that I managed to win your affection?"

Chiaki nodded, smiling at him, but then her smile immediately disappeared as her eyes went downcast.

"Is something troubling you?" Izuru asked, immediately taking notice of her change in expression.

Chiaki hesitated for a moment, debating on whether to lie. But she knew that Izuru would be able to see past it and she didn't like lying to him so she decided to be honest.

"I know I'm supposed to be happy that you succeeded in raising all my flags, but I'm not sure if I've managed to raise all yours. I've played so many different dating sims, you'd think I would see a sign that I'm getting close, but you're different, Kamukura-kun. Then again, I'm aiming for the romantic route, so it's probably going to be a while before that happens."

A few seconds after she said it, Chiaki immediately froze.

"What do you mean by 'romantic route'?" Izuru asked.

She pulled her hood over her head in embarrassment. "I totally said that out loud, didn't I?"

"You did." Izuru said immediately, not bothering to sugarcoat anything.

Chiaki sighed. There was no way that Izuru was going to let what she just said slide. There were no save files that she could reload. She didn't have the power to rewind time like that one character in a game she recently played. There was no quit button and even if she did try to run away, she would have to face it sooner or later.

"Nanami, are you romantically interested in me?"

It's not like Izuru hadn't noticed. Sometimes, Chiaki would steal glances at him when she thought he wasn't looking, but even if he wasn't looking, he could tell when her eyes were on him. There were times where she wanted to move closer to him when they were sitting next to each other, but she hesitated, assuming the action would invade his personal space, or let on her intentions. Whenever they parted ways, she would turn around, watching as his back receded. Even if he wasn't facing her, he could see her wanting to say something to him before he was out of her sight, but again she wavered and decided against it.

Though it's not like Izuru wouldn't do the same thing. He was always looking in her direction, admiring her smile and her gentle pink eyes. When she fell asleep, instead of waking her up, he would let her head lean against his shoulder. She always apologized after she woke up, but deep down, Izuru didn't mind. He enjoyed watching her sleep peacefully, catching whiffs of the shampoo she used in her hair or the perfume she was wearing that day. It was never overwhelming, but enough to put him at ease.

Chiaki's griped on her hood tightened, slightly. "If I answer, I might trigger the wrong flag and get a bad ending."

"How do you know that? I haven't given you an answer yet."

"You… you don't have to give me an answer. I know you're not interested in stuff like dating."

Perhaps before, but then she came into his world. She made him experience all kinds of things that he never had before.

"Even if you were interested, I still don't know if I maxed out your affection bar."

"Nanami."

"Usually there's a special scene that happens, but it hasn't activated."

"Nanami."

"You don't have to worry about me. I'm sorry I troubled you-"

Before she could continue, Izuru silenced her by pulling her close to him, wrapping his arms around her. He felt the gamer jolt at the sudden contact, but she didn't pull away. He could tell that she wanted to lean into his chest more and hold onto him, but was holding herself back out of fear that she would be jumping to conclusions.

"Nanami, you will not get an unfavorable outcome just because you revealed your feelings for me." He paused for a few moments before resuming. "Truthfully, I am also romantically attracted to you."

Chiaki's eyes widened at the sudden confession, her heart skipping a beat. She slowly looked up towards Izuru. His eyes were serious as usual, but there was a hint of gentleness behind them.

"You're not just saying that… right? You really mean it?"

"I have no reason to lie to you. Though perhaps…" He leaned in, his eyes never leaving hers, stopping when he was just a few inches away from her lips. Chiaki felt paralyzed, her breath, feeling as if it was trapped in her throat. She wanted to look away from his eyes, that seemed like they could see straight through her, but they locked hers into place.

"… You'd rather I take a different approach?" Izuru queried.

She could feel her heart thumping uncontrollably within her chest, and prayed that he couldn't hear it. Her face was probably as red as a tomato and so hot that you could fry an egg on it. This happened to a lot of the female protagonists she played as when she triggered a certain scene with one of the potential male love interests. She'd never expected that she would be in their shoes.

Izuru could tell that Chiaki was in deep thought and wondered if he was being too forward. He secretly enjoyed teasing her, but he didn't want to scare her. However, he felt her arms wrap around him and her head lean into his chest. The contact surprised him, but he reciprocated by holding her close to him in a warm embrace.

"I'm okay with this for now." She said, softly. "I believe you."

They spent a few moments in each other's arms before parting.

"Just to be clear, I'm the only one you've given these to, correct?" Izuru asked.

Chiaki nodded. "Although I've maxed out their affection bars, I wouldn't give my classmates something like my underwear. It'd be pretty weird." Her gaze fell to her feet as her cheeks flushed. "Besides, I already chose to pursue your romantic route. There's no one else that I'm interested in in that kind of way, I think."

Izuru wouldn't admit it outright, but the thought of being the only one to receive such a personal item from her made him happy. Not that he had any intention of revealing it to anyone else. It made him uncomfortable just holding the undergarment out in the open. He would keep it somewhere safe and most likely would never bother to pick them up again.

* * *

The next day at their usual spot near the fountain, Izuru brought a pair of his own undergarments to give to Chiaki. She was taken back by the white boxers decorated with light-pink cherry blossoms, but she gladly accepted the piece of clothing, promising to treasure it and to keep it as a secret between them. With this, the two had managed to clear each other's routes, both platonic and romantic and started going out on proper dates than their usual gaming sessions. Eventually, Chiaki gained the courage to restart the intimate event with Izuru that was she was previously too nervous to do.


End file.
